# Sir Walter Raleigh



## Jeff10236 (Nov 21, 2010)

So, yesterday on my drive home from work I tried some of the SWR that Dave (owaindav) sent me. 

In the pouch, it is a nice milk-chocolate brown. The pouch note is a little chocolate as well, along with the smell of figs. It is a cube cut that loads into the pipe quite easily. It was a little dry, I don't know how Dave kept it so some may have been from storage, but from what I have read it can be a bit of a dry tobacco.

It lit very easily, and stayed lit. It did burn a little hot and I initially was smoking it a little too fast, but as soon as it started showing signs of tongue bite I slowed down and it was fine after that. It may be a tad hotter and harsher than some of the more expensive brands, but it really does taste good. It is a burley, so a nutty flavor was not a surprise. It does have a casing (I think it is just a sugar casing, but I'm not sure), so a nice sweetness wasn't a surprise either. The smell was absolutely terrific- this is a tobacco to smoke around people who may normally not particularly like being around tobacco smoke.

It won't be an everyday smoke, but I liked it and I'll probably keep some around quite regularly, maybe as a permanent part of my rotation.

Now I do have to offer a disclaimer:

This was my grandfather's main tobacco. I was bound to like it, at least the aroma, as it reminds me of my late grandfather. Smelling it took me right back to the study in the apartment my grandparents had when I was a young child (so it actually helps remind me of both of them). I can again see myself in the late 70s or early 80s riding in their 1977 Olds Toronado or 1979 Ford Thunderbird when visiting them, or when they came here. I remember being 5 or 6, opening his tin of tobacco to smell it and begging him to light his pipe. I am back to following my grandfather outside when he is visiting my parents house so I can smell his pipe (and get some nice time with my grandfather). It even brings me back to 1973 or 1974 (I was three because it was before my brother was born, but not by much), when my parents brought him his first pipe to try to get him to kick cigarettes. So, it was probably inevitable that I'd like this stuff. Good memories.

Hmm, I think it is time to go outside for another smoke ipe:


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## BrewShooter (Mar 17, 2011)

A great story and a great review!!!

When I was young there was an older couple that lived next door to my parents. I remember the husband smoked a pipe and I recall this red striped package that the tobacco was in before he transferred it to his leather pouch. I'm fairly certain it was SWR. I remember he was nearly blind, but he could load a pipe with ease. I would sometimes visit them and drink ginger ale in the back yard. The wife would bring it out to us and he would smoke his pipe and sing old Irish folk tunes. Man, I haven't thought about that in years!


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## Jeff10236 (Nov 21, 2010)

I've been smoking the crap out of this stuff since my first bowl. I have at least one bowl of it nearly everyday. I'm really enjoying it. It is a generally mellow, tasty smoke with a great aroma. It can get a little harsh and bitter near the bottom of the bowl, especially if smoked too fast, but is generally very good for the rest of the pipe, and usually isn't too bad at the last of the pipe either. 

I've had a number of good comments about it when smoking in public. On the smoking deck at a local bar yesterday (I smoked this before switching over to SG Perfection), I had a very cute young woman in her early 20's come over to me because of the pipe (I'm 40 and very overweight so cute women in their early 20's wanting to talk to me at a bar is not something that has happened much for quite a few years now- it was the pipe that brought her over, it wasn't just an excuse to talk to me  ). She had long been interested in pipes and wanted to try it, I may have won a convert as she really liked it.


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## freestoke (Feb 13, 2011)

Nice reminiscence! My father smoked SWR, too, along with a bunch of the old OTCs. He'd buy a can at a time and finish it. Sometimes it was PA, sometimes CH, sometimes H&H, sometimes SWR. Until he found Edgeworth Read Rubbed. :lol: Think that was the end of the road. ERR to the end. Figures you can't get THAT one any more!


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## gahdzila (Apr 29, 2010)

Great review! I'm still a relatively new piper, but I've been a PA fanboy from the beginning. I figured I should at least give the other OTCs a try. I'm working on SWR now. It took a couple of bowls before I was comfortable with it, but I'm enjoying it!


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## mmiller (Nov 17, 2011)

SWR is a great tobacco, and a wonderful review Jeff! What I love about it is if you are in a hurry it is impossible to pack wrong.


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